Good health. Clean water. Zero hunger. Quality education. Decent work. No poverty. Millions of us take these privileges and rights for granted. For billions more, they remain elusive dreams.

These and the other United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - 17 in all - form the heart of Agenda 2030, which promises peace and prosperity for people and the planet. Collectively they represent an urgent call to action all world citizens must heed before it’s too late.

As leaders and experts who work at the interface of religion and policy, we are conscious of the ways that religious communities have responded to the challenge and of ways they have learned to adapt. Most of us will never forget this year’s Easter, this year’s Passover, this year’s Ramadan, and the ways that life in every religious community has been affected. Our consciences have also been seared by other pandemics—the all-too-resilient strains of racism—both personal and structural; the burdens of inequality, in all their myriad forms; the suffering of people who 'can't breathe;' the unending flood of refugees and displaced persons; the ongoing degradation of the environment; and countless other ills that bear in upon us as we shelter and social distance in our homes.”

 - H.E. Metropolitan Emmanuel, Metropolitan of France and Chairman of the KAICIID Board of Directors